I teach elementary Physical Education. One way that I could use a blog is for students to share ideas of the different ways that they exercise and keep active at home. What they do to keep their bodies healthy. Also, if there are any after school events that parents are aware of, then maybe they can share that information with others.
I understand the positive potential for blogs and I am a big supporter of technology. However, I am not willing to use it yet in my classroom. It seems like a potentially dangerous tool that could lead to online bullying. I am sure we have all seen what myspace, email, and text messaging can do to all people, not just children. Last year, our school took away email privileges from all 6th grade students because of online bullying.
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I am glad you brought up the idea of online bullying. It can be a problem, but there are two solutions to the problem that I have seen. First of all, since you would be the adminstrator for the blog, you could accept or deny the comments and posts that students are making on the blogs. Second, the good thing about being the administrator is that there is a nice paper trail that can be easily printed out and saved if someone does try to bully another.
ReplyDeleteCyber bullying is something that is new to my district, and within the last month, I myself was almost bullied by a student. I gave her a detention for her unacceptable behavior in class and wrote an email to her mom. Her mom was ok with the situation, and said she would discuss it with her daughter. After the discussion, the daughter emailed me a very rude, inappropriate and threating email. I showed it to my assistant principal, and she really did not know what to do with it at first. Technically it was a threat against a teacher, and the girl could have been suspended or expelled, but since it was the first case in our school, she only spent a day in In-School-Detention.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI agree, there would need to be strict guidelines set up with your students and some type of monitoring, as Travis stated above. I always tell my students that they should be careful what they put in writing, whether it be on the computer or on paper. It is often hard to convince a middle-schooler that they WILL get caught. They think they are invincible.
We have had students suspended from school for comments they have made to each other on Facebook or MySpace, so our administration is on top of this. Travis - I'm sorry that your admin. didn't really send a stronger message to your student. ISS probably won't deter her from doing that again.
I like that you are aware of online bullying. One thing that I would suggest that I just found out is that you can put a hold on your posts and review them before they can be seen by others. If you do this then it would be hard for anyone to publish something that would hurt another student. I also have taught phys. ed. at the elementary school and could see the benefit but it might be hard due to language, typing and writing skills of the students. A thought would be in additition to a word wall. To have the students post in a computer lab once a week or whatever time frame regarding key terms in your class. Example: This week students will post a word that is a locomotor movement. It would be fun and a great way to incorporate. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think Jeroud brought up a great idea as far as previewing students blogs. I also teach elementary physical education and understand that kids, even at the elementary age, can be cruel. This could also allow you to become familiar with your students and perhaps assist them in needs outside of your classroom. I know that as phys. ed. teachers we rarely like to have our students sitting and writing. Perhaps it could be an assignment for students to complete as extra credit or within their technology lessons.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honesty within your original post.